The bailout big picture
Congress has a real challenge in trying to “improve the bare-bones $700 billion” Wall Street bailout plan, says David Leonhardt in The New York Times, largely because most legislators have little or no “expertise in the byzantine details of mortgage finance.” But if they get it right, the final cost won’t be anywhere near $700 billion. Their best shot is to focus tightly on two questions: “What steps are most likely to solve the immediate crisis? And how can the long-term cost to taxpayers be minimized?” Everything else is a distraction or a detail that, with the credit markets “nearly dysfunctional,” we don’t have time for. Congress should demand a stake in participating firms, and leave executive pay and other issues for later.
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